Best of

the Twin Cities

Best Hike

Shovel Point Trail at Tettegouche State Park

Hikers get absolutely spoiled at Tettegouche State Park. Located about an hour up Highway 61 from Duluth, the breathtaking North Shore acreage offers waterfalls, rivers, beaches, birch-aspen forests, and steep, rocky cliffs edging Lake Superior. The best hour you can spend at Tettegouche is hiking the Shovel Point Trail. The 1.2-mile roundtrip journey begins with a towering clifftop glimpse of Palisade Head — the 300-foot sheer rock marvel just to the south — and panoramic views of Gitche Gumee. From there, you’ll twist through the woods, catching possible glimpses of white-tailed deer, snowshoe hare, and more than 140 species of birds (keep an eye out for nesting peregrine falcons). The path eventually spills out to the rhyolite outcroppings that meet Superior and another bounty of horizon-stretching lake photo ops.